Galaxy Clements and The Punnett Squares of Doom

Yo! This is Galaxy here! And we're.... going to learn about Punnett Squares? Shrimp, you know I don't like biology.

Shrimp: Well neither does Meeka, and she needs a bit of help.
Galaxy: But I just like Earth Science, and only the stars part of it
Shrimp: Well Punnett Squares are easy, so you'll be fine.
Galaxy: Do you even think that I listen in that class?
Shrimp: You should be.
Galaxy: Hello? I got like, a D in it.
Shrimp: Galaxy, just please... Help the meeka out.
Galaxy: Finee.

Okay, sooo let's start!

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The Punnett Square was invented by a man named Reginald Punnett during the early 20th century, in England.

Punnett Squares are used to calculate the probability of inheriting certain traits.

Creating a Punnett Square is relatively simple.

First, draw a large square, and then separate it into fourths.

Shrimp: On a side note, I've figured out how to save something as a .png!
Galaxy: Shuddup I'm speaking.

Then, put each paren't genotype (that's their dominant/recessive alleles) on each side, like so:



Then simply combine them to form four combinations.


(note, for the bottom right box, just switch the color, :3 )

Dominant and Recessive:

Now first off, the capital 'T' represents the dominant allele, and the little 't' represents the recessive allele. Alleles are what genes are made up of. Genes create physical traits.

If somebody has a dominant trait, they will show the dominant characteristic. For example:

If T and t represented hair color (with 'T' being pink and 't' being blue), if a person has the T allele, they have pink hair. A person will only have blue hair if both traits that they've inherited from their parents are recessive alleles.

The recessive gene is literally, recessive, meaning that it's overshadowed by a dominant gene. A recessive gene can only be physically seen if they are homozygous (only have the recessive gene for that trait)





Homozygous and Heterozygous

It's likely that based off of English, you can somewhat guess what these two terms mean. Homozygous means having the same alleles for the same trait

(ex: JJ, ee, SS, ss, ii, CC, AA).

Heterozygous means having two different alleles for the same gene.

(ex: Ss, Ee, Rr, Ff, Aa, Tt, Yy)

If something has two dominant alleles, they are known as being
"Homozygous Dominant"

If something has one dominant and one recessive allele, they are known as
"Heterozygous"

And if something has two recessive alleles, they are
"Homozygous Recessive"